The former Attorney General said: "What will happen is that there will be a necessary extension – short extension – of time on both sides for this matter to be resolved.

"I can see that with the wording of Article 50, in the way it is, one interpretation would be: 'Well, the two years, and the guillotine comes down'.

"I just don't think this has any bearing on the practical reality of the way in which this negotiation will be carried out at all.

"If we are at the point where our partners in the EU are saying: 'Terribly sorry, we can't extend it by one second, millisecond', then all I can say is, at that stage they'd probably want to get rid of us without any deal at all."

GETTY

Dominic Grieve warned the EU may stay in the EU beyond March 2019

Brussels EU summit in pictures

Fri, October 20, 2017

The EU is expected to say that they will start internal preparatory work on a post-Brexit transition period and a future trade deal with Britain

Emmanuel Macron holds a press conference on the second day of European Council meetings

PA

Brussels could allow more time for a agreement to be approved

The Beaconsfield MP made the comments while giving evidence to the Commons Procedure Committee this afternoon.

He added the Government could face a legal challenge if it failed to put an exit deal to a vote in Parliament.

Mr Grieve said: "If the Government were to try to do it without statutory authority there must be a serious risk that there will be a legal challenge to the Government doing it.

"And, therefore, I think it's very much in the Government's interest that it should have a statute to underpin the final deal."

PA

David Davis expects negotiations to go on until the 11th hour

Meanwhile, Brexit Secretary David Davis said he expected negotiations with Brussels to go on until the 11th hour.

This could mean MPs may only be given a vote on the deal pulling Britain out of the EU after the country had left the bloc.

The Brexit Department later clarified his comments, saying they were in response to "hypothetical scenarios".

A spokesman for Mr Davis said: "We are working to reach an agreement on the final deal in good time before we leave the EU in March 2019.

"Once the deal is agreed we will meet our long-standing commitment to a vote in both Houses and we expect and intend this to be before the vote in the European Parliament and therefore before we leave."